US Navy sends 'black box detector' to Indian Ocean

WASHINGTON: The US Navy is rushing a 'black box detector' to the Indian Ocean as part of global efforts to find the crucial device from the missing Malaysian airliner even as possible debris has again been detected in deep southern parts of the Indian Ocean.

The Towed Pinger Locator 25 of the US Navy has the capacity to locate black boxes up to a maximum depth of 20,000 feet, but it is essential to locate the debris area, Pentagon officials said.

"In the event a debris field is located, we're moving some specialised locator equipment into the area. The Towed Pinger Locator has some highly sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck site is located, we can hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 20,000 feet," said Cmdr Chris Budde, Fleet Operations Officer of the US Seventh Fleet.

"Basically, this super-sensitive hydrophone gets towed behind a commercial vessel very slowly and listens for black box pings," he said.

"This movement is simply a prudent effort to preposition equipment and trained personnel closer to the search area so that if debris is found we will be able to respond as quickly as possible since the battery life of the black box's pinger is limited," said Budde.

The state-of-the-art black box detector detects the important device based on signals emitted by it.

The black box holds the key to find the reasons for the tragedy of the Malaysian plane, which went missing about a fortnight ago.

The plane had 239 people, including five Indians, on board when it was on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.